A Look Back at 2006
In 2006, SEIU public service professionals:
Provided the spark behind new community programs and services for some of our country’s most vulnerable citizens, including: a county geriatric mental health clinic, an urban respite care program for Latinos caring for developmentally disabled family members, and stepped-up state services for adults with autism. - Forced corporations and the wealthy to come closer to paying their fair share of taxes by defeating draconian ballot initiatives in Maine, Montana, Nebraska, and Oregon. The measures would have severely restricted government budgets and forced cuts in vital public services.
- Won a living wage and rights on the jobs for public services professionals deep in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas—and many other parts of the previously nonunion South and Southwest, too. In the past two years, more than 25,000 public sector workers in Texas alone won the right to a voice at work by uniting together with SEIU.
- Convinced a multinational transportation company not to oppose U.S. school bus drivers standing up on safety and fair pay issues. We also drove up standards for cafeteria workers and other people whose service jobs have been privatized, and challenged public officials to scrutinize hidden costs and lost expertise when making decisions about contracting out public services.
- Built a growing movement for affordable, reliable child care among tens of thousands of child care providers and the families they serve nationwide. This year another 11,000 providers in Washington state and 6,000 in Oregon won rate increases and improvements in benefits through first-ever contracts with state governments. These breakthroughs followed our historic win with 49,000 providers in Illinois who joined together with SEIU last year. We also marshaled support for giving child care providers more of a say in the work they do: through legislative efforts in California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; and through new community campaigns in Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.
- Waged spirited campaigns in Los Angeles County and San Francisco to fight for quality public services. SEIU members in those jurisdictions won agreements providing salary increases of 8.25 to 15.5 percent. They also won unprecedented requirements for safe staffing levels (Local 1021) and limits on contracting out (Local 721).
Today’s Crisis in Child Care
All too often, parents face difficult challenges in finding child care providers who meet their needs. More »
